What appeared to be a big dog swimming in Browns Inlet proved to be a big cat.

Cedar Point resident Mike Maroules is no stranger to the area’s waterways, but he was surprised while out on his boat last week to find a bobcat paddling toward a swath of beach in Browns Inlet.

“I thought it was a big dog. I was going to go rescue it in case it was tired from swimming, but when I got close enough I could see it wasn’t a dog,” said Maroules, who snapped photographs of the bobcat during his June 13 outing.

“He was a big cat. He looked full grown,” Maroules added.

Not only was it unusual to see the nocturnal bobcat during the day, Maroules said he’s never seen one in the inlet before.

Maroules said he didn’t want to get to close but was able get some photographs with the camera on his phone as the bobcat was swimming and just as he reached the marsh.

He posted a photo on his personal Facebook page and had one submitted to the Emerald Isle – NC (theJeweloftheSOBX) page. Since then, the photo has generated notably interest, with the post on Emerald Isle – NC page shared more than 400 times and garnering more than 900 likes to date.

“The bobcat got everybody excited,” he said.

While some expressed surprise, others commented that they had seen bobcats in the 1980s and 1990s along the Coast Guard Road area of Emerald Isle.

The comments suggested it might be a panther, jaguar or other species; but Maroules said that due to its presence in Eastern North Carolina and from researching characteristics, he is confident it was a bobcat.

There was no mistaking what Susan Meyer spotted in the surf recently from the balcony of her North Topsail Beach home.

“I knew it was an alligator; it was close enough that you could see what it was,” she said.

But the ocean beach is not where she would expect to see it. In the eight years she has had a condo Topsail Reef, she’s never seen one.

“I was surprised. I’ve never seen it before,” she said of the May 16 encounter. “I think it probably came from the sound side. It was going south and then turned around and went north.”

Meyer contacted the N.C. Coastal Federation about the alligator and a photograph she took of it in the surf was recently posted on the federation’s Facebook page.

The photographs captured by the local residents are a reminder that the beaches and sounds we’re used to sharing with dolphin, fish and sea turtles may also have unexpected animal visitors at times.

“Any critter that occurs in Eastern North Carolina, it’s not unusual to see it at the beach at some time,” he said.

Alligators, fox, and deer are a few of the more common sightings. The Town of Emerald Isle, he noted, has a deer population, that is near the inlet.

The black bear may be the most alarming to people but bear sightings on the beach and in coastal towns are not uncommon, Norville said.

Last year, a contractor working at Camp Lejeune snapped a photograph of a juvenile bear on Bear Island near Swansboro and sent it to park official at Hammocks Beach State Park.

Bears are good swimmers and it is believed the Bear Island visitor had crossed Sander’s Creek from Camp Lejeune and wandered over to Bear Island in search of new territory.

Jonathan Shaw, a district wildlife biologist with Wildlife Resources, said that may often be the case for wildlife you wouldn’t expect to see at the beach.

“Most animals go through a dispersal process when they reach a certain age . . . and they are trying to set up their own range,” he said. “I’ve seen bears swim across the sound. I’ve seen deer swim across the sound. I’ve even seen river otters on the beach.”

For juvenile black bears, this is the time of year when they may be in search of territory and wander into areas not normally their habitat. For deer, he said, it’s more in the fall.

Neither Shaw nor Norville had seen the photograph of the bobcat said to be swimming at Browns Inlet but said bobcats, too, are found in Eastern North Carolina.

They just aren’t seen as often.

“They are mostly nocturnal, and we don’t usually see them,” Shaw said.

As for the alligator, they say there is a significant population of gators in Easter North Carolina but they tend to stay in fresh and brackish water.

“Alligators tend to end up on the beach by accident,” said Norville.

He said they can’t tolerate saltwater long and will become sick or dehydrated.

Meyer said she noticed the alligator at North Topsail Beach a day or so after hearing about a 10-foot alligator that was shot and killed after appearing on the beach at Folly Beach, S.C.

She said the alligator she saw a small one, she estimates about 4-feet-long.

Meyer said there were a few people out watching the alligator but it was about 5 p.m. and mid-May so the beach was not as busy as it might be at the peak of the summer season.

Page 3 of 3 - She said she contacted local police to let them know in case wildlife officers needed to be called. In this case, the alligator was left alone and apparently returned to its normal habitat.

Norville said that each situation is different. In general, he said, the best thing people can do is not to feed or approach the animal and they will typically leave the area.